The Girl Who Played With Fire
In the second of the trilogy we find Lisbeth in the Caribbean having laundered a few million dollars into a disguised bank account. From her hotel room she observes her neighbour, Dr Forbes, an American tourist physically abusing his wife, on several occasions. Lisbeth utilises her connections among hackers to investigate Dr Forbes and learns that he has no assets, but his wife is the heiress to a fortune worth $40 million. She also befriends introverted sixteen year old student George and begins tutoring him in mathematics. She enjoys his company because she finds it relaxing and he doesn't ask any personal questions. Eventually they develop a sexual relationship.
As a hurricane strikes Lisbeth braves the strong wind and rain to collect George from his beach shack. On the way back to the safety of her hotel they see Dr Forbes and his wife on the beach and quickly realise that he is attempting to kill her. George and Mrs Forbes continue to the hotel, Lisbeth attacks Dr Forbes with his own weapon and abandons him to the elements. Lisbeth later returns to Stockholm.
Meanwhile back in Stockholm Michael Blomkvist has lost contact with Lisbeth as she refuses to open his letters. He is approached by Svensson, a journalist who has meticulously researched sex trafficking and the abuse of underage girls by high ranking figures, and asks Michael to investigate. Shortly before printing the story Svensson and his partner are shot dead and Lisbeth's fingerprints are found on the gun.
The vile Nils Bjurman, Lisbeth's legal guardian, continues to brew a growing hatred for his ward, with a singular goal of capturing her and destroying the CDs. He scrutinizes Salander's medical records, which mentions an incident named "All the Evil" and also identifies a person from her past as his strongest ally.
There's a lot going on in this book and we learn quite a bit about the horrific backstory that made Lisbeth the defensive, prickly person she is. I enjoyed this book as much as the first one.
Sounds like my kind of book, its on my list of one to read through the Winter. Thankyou for your lovely comment on my last post, it is greatly appreciated that you read through so many .
ReplyDeleteI loved the first one and have this but haven't read it yet. Thanks for a good overview!
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